P3A Disconnects - A Noob Asks!

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Hi all

I daresay this has been answered and there's a million different potential answers. I have Googled and searched however I don't always quite understand the lingo so was hoping that people don't mind if I start a new thread to ask. I'm a noob here - 2 flights in with any drone ever. Second flight I went down to a local (isolated) beach. Flew it out about 30 metres in front of me and to an altitude of about 60m. Using it with an Oppo R11.

When I reached this point, the screen told me that it was 'disconnected'. The AC didn't start to return and after a couple of seconds of "OH MY GOD!" and not responding (or it felt as if it wasn't) I was able to bring it home using the control sticks as RTH did nothing. From memory after a few seconds the screen went blank as if I hadn't been using my phone. Once safely down I powered down both the AC and RC and once restarted it seemed to fly okay again. Only then did the 'Disconnected' message disappear.

I guess I'd like to know:
a) What could be causing it to do such a thing as such close range and what can I do to prevent it happening again?
b) If it does happen and I lose control, what are my options to bring it home?

Not sure what else to provide. As I say, pretty new and flying safe after doing some time in beginner mode and watching plenty of advice vid's etc. I don't let it go too far at all until I'm more comfortable so gentle advice and a solution (or steps on how to diagnose) for the above problem would be appreciated before I take it out again.
 
Hi again, this is a new post of questions you asked before, which is fine, I don’t recall outcome of last post.

A. What causing a disconnect, well as you say could be many reasons, best way to find out is for the logs contained in drone to be analysed - they provide detailed record of all drone and pilot controls and readings. If you wish to do this, ask if someone on this forum to assist you retrieve and diagnose your logs.
b. I’d suggest you stay in beginner mode until you are familiar with how RTH works, it’s settings, and how it is involved. Then practice it, ie do it deliberately, so you know how it behaves.
I realise you are new to this, we all started there. Something you have outlined doesn’t add up , need more info, ie:
- when you got ‘disconnected’, what do you believe was disconnected from what? I’m guessing RC from AC. If so then there is no comms between them, so pressing ‘RTH’ on controller won’t get through will it? - they are disconnected. BUT then you say you flew it back - how is this possible if it was disconnected? or did it reconnect (important to know) or is it at all possible it did actually RTH on its own & it wasn’t you flying? How do you know?

Normally, if disconnection takes place, after a short time the AC automatically will RTH without ANY RC input at all, ie RC could be off. This assumes home was recorded on take off and RTH set correctly in app setup - did you do this? If not or not experienced this yet - read how to in user Manual, it directly affects the way things work as per your questions.
Does this make sense, can you advise on the RTH settings, was ‘home’ set before takeoff?
 
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Typically "disconnected" means your device (phone/tablet) is not connected properly via the usb cable to the RC and not an issue with the RC and AC. The fact that you could control the AC and that RTH didn't auto activate confirms this. Try a new USB cable. If the RC and AC lose signal the message will be "weak signal" NOT "disconnected".
 
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Typically "disconnected" means your device (phone/tablet) is not connected properly via the usb cable to the RC and not an issue with the RC and AC. The fact that you could control the AC and that RTH didn't auto activate confirms this. Try a new USB cable. If the RC and AC lose signal the message will be "weak signal" NOT "disconnected".
What he said. My original micro USB cable became so lose on my tablet that any contact with it could cause a disconnect. This is an Android tablet and those micro USB cables lose their grip after a while. As @3rdof5 said, since the AC did not initiate the RTH, there was no loss of comms between the AC and the RC. It was most likely loss of comms between RC and device. New cable, no problem for me.
 
I will agree to everything said above in that it seems this was a phone/app disconnecting from the remote. You need to confirm that first. The USB connector on the Phantom 3 line is known to have this issue. Sometimes you just need to find the right cable that fits snugly and does not lose connection. Other times you may actually need to replace that daughter board inside the controller, which is very easy and fairly cheap. With my Phantom 3 I would lose connection and manage to re-establish by taking the plug out and then re-inserting it firmly. I did finally manage to find a good high-quality cable that fit more snugly and did not have the issue nearly as much.
The only part of the post that does not jive with a lost connection between phone and controller is non-functioning RTH. If the controller was still linked to the drone (as I suspect it was) then manually activating RTH should have brought the drone home. So all I can think of there is that either RTH settings were not correct before launch or the drone was actually already returning home. I'm assuming you did activate RTH from the physical controller and not from the Go app?
As mentioned in prior post, read the user manual cover to cover and test the RTH before you need it for real.
 
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I will agree to everything said above in that it seems this was a phone/app disconnecting from the remote. You need to confirm that first. The USB connector on the Phantom 3 line is known to have this issue. Sometimes you just need to find the right cable that fits snugly and does not lose connection. Other times you may actually need to replace that daughter board inside the controller, which is very easy and fairly cheap. With my Phantom 3 I would lose connection and manage to re-establish by taking the plug out and then re-inserting it firmly. I did finally manage to find a good high-quality cable that fit more snugly and did not have the issue nearly as much.
The only part of the post that does not jive with a lost connection between phone and controller is non-functioning RTH. If the controller was still linked to the drone (as I suspect it was) then manually activating RTH should have brought the drone home. So all I can think of there is that either RTH settings were not correct before launch or the drone was actually already returning home. I'm assuming you did activate RTH from the physical controller and not from the Go app?
As mentioned in prior post, read the user manual cover to cover and test the RTH before you need it for real.
My guess is he didn't press and hold the RTH button on the remote long enough to activate RTH.
 
Super helpful. Thanks everyone.

Will definitely try a new cable, make sure I know all about RTH and practice with that feature in beginner mode.

I'm sure I set RTH up before I took off too but I absolutely didn't hold it for long. Will report back on my findings.
 
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He also said he was "about" 30 meters away. It could be he was too close for RTH to intiate. RTH will not initiate unless it is further than 25 meters away.
 
He also said he was "about" 30 meters away. It could be he was too close for RTH to intiate. RTH will not initiate unless it is further than 25 meters away.
If he was too close and successfully activated RTH it would have auto landed where it was. Probably a good thing he didnt successfully activate it.
 
Ah! Would the flight data give me that info?
Yes the flight data file on the internal built in sd card in the AC would confirm whether or not RTH was successfully activated. To clarify, the RTH button on the remote must be pressed and HELD for approx 3 seconds, at which time you will hear some beeps and the white ring around the RTH button will flash white. If that did not happen then you did not activate RTH successfully.
 
I definitely didn't then and yes it's a good job it didn't land where it was. Definitely reading the manual cover to cover before flying again.
 
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Put all your batteries in your drone one at a time and power it up with the transmitter off. Leave it powered up with each battery for several minutes with each battery. Then power everything off and try flying normally.
 
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Thanks so much for all of the suggestions everyone.

Read up a fair bit, watched a few up to date videos, replaced the USB cable and went out for a test flight today. Got up to 100m (all I felt comfortable doing) and flew for a good 15 minutes - no disconnections, no problems. Tested the RTH and worked flawlessly.

Having a great time testing it out and becoming more comfortable with the controls. It's so easy to want to try and run before I can walk...!
 
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Thanks so much for all of the suggestions everyone.

Read up a fair bit, watched a few up to date videos, replaced the USB cable and went out for a test flight today. Got up to 100m (all I felt comfortable doing) and flew for a good 15 minutes - no disconnections, no problems. Tested the RTH and worked flawlessly.

Having a great time testing it out and becoming more comfortable with the controls. It's so easy to want to try and run before I can walk...!
Glad to hear you got sorted out! Happy flying :)
 
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